a spring wire clasp with a covering catch, made so as to shield the point when closed and to prevent accidental unfastening
another word for pin
First recorded in 1855–60
First recorded in 1915–20
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Adding insult to injury, to settle a debt, Hunt sold the 1849 patent rights for something that could have kept his legacy alive: the modern-day safety pin.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
Jones recommends “tagging” any items you’re still wavering on with a safety pin.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2024
Many others used a much more effective tool - the ubiquitous safety pin.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2023
“My safety pin busted out of my pants, as I was running,” Glasper joked while pulling up his pants on the Microsoft Theater stage after winning the award on Sunday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2023
After class, people do their hair thing in front of the mirrors while I tuck it all in with one sweep of a scarf and a strategically placed safety pin.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
There were reduxes of the famous spring 1994 safety-pin dress collection, and the candy-colored PVC Mod dresses of fall 1994, here, shown with clunky sneakers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2018
And on Sunday night in New York, Ms. Versace was at it again, reincarnating the notorious safety-pin gown of 1994.
From New York Times ● Dec. 3, 2018
One is by Pamela Love, a safety-pin shape with two pearls, the other a pink marble on a gold chain that I bought from Monoprix for a few euros.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 27, 2017
A girl with spikily chopped hair and a safety-pin earring, a girl who was nonetheless Annagret.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 1, 2015
Then she would safety-pin the card to the front of your shirt, and you’d have to wear it for the rest of the school day.
From "Frindle" by Andrew Clements
He leaned on old ski poles with a blue washcloth safety-pinned to the back of his ball cap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2025
No Values hits right in your safety-pinned sweet spot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2024
He kept all his money safety-pinned in a little pocket inside his jacket and was constantly accusing people of having opened it up and stealing his money.
From National Geographic ● Apr. 14, 2018
From Beau Brummell’s commitment to dandyism in 1790s Mayfair to the safety-pinned punks stalking Camden in the 1970s, London has a long history of creating attention-grabbing menswear.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 13, 2015
The next day, just as soon as his grandfather drives out of sight, Boy21 reaches into his over-the-shoulder bag and pulls out a brown robe made from bath towels safety-pinned together.
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
